Jan 27, 2022 3 min read

State Rep. Natalie Mihalek, R-Peters Township, has introduced legislation that would privatize alcohol sales in Pennsylvania by amending the commonwealth’s constitution.

The proposal would put the question to voters, and if they agree with it, state control of liquor sales would end. Pennsylvania is one of two states that sell wine and other spirits through state-operated liquor establishments. With some adjustments, the system has been in place since the 1930s, and governors and lawmakers from both parties have tried and failed to privatize liquor sales over the years.

Recently, Democratic lawmakers have mostly opposed efforts to privatize the system, arguing it would eliminate hundreds of jobs and deprive state coffers of revenue. In 2015, the Republican-controlled Legislature approved a measure to privatize the sale of wine and spirits, but it was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Tom Wolf, who said the liquor stores were an asset to the state and selling them would raise prices.

At a meeting of the House Liquor Control Committee Monday, Mihalek said “while privatization efforts have been discussed in Harrisburg over the years, I can’t think of a more relevant time to reignite the discussion.” The representative, whose district also includes Peters Township, said state control of alcohol sales was part of a “pandemic of government overreach.”

At the same hearing, Wendell Young, president of the United Food and Commercial Workers Local No. 1776, which represents employees of state liquor stores, said the stores deliver almost $800 million to the state’s general fund, and that money then is funneled to the Pennsylvania State Police, drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, municipalities and other programs.

The stores are “a very reliable source of income and increased income,” Young said.

Mihalek said she is introducing the proposal in order to get around the logjam created by Pennsylvania’s divided government. It is one of several potential constitutional amendments Republicans have introduced in recent months. Other proposals would ask voters to amend the state’s constitution to require voter identification and allow the Legislature to override a governor’s executive orders with a majority vote.

This has led to some pushback from Democrats, including state Rep. Pam Snyder, D-Jefferson, of the 50th Legislative District, which includes Greene County and portions of Washington and Fayette counties. She and state Rep. Bizzarro, who hails from Erie, have introduced a resolution that would require a two-thirds majority in both the House and the Senate before a proposed amendment to the state constitution can be presented to voters. Right now, changes to the constitution require identical legislation be approved by the General Assembly in two consecutive sessions, each time with a simple majority vote.

“We are taking action against slapdash and undemocratic attempts to rewrite our commonwealth’s most fundamental document,” Snyder said in a statement. “If their ideas are worth changing the state constitution, it should be done with an overwhelming bipartisan majority of the Legislature.”